A Flowerplay and a Herball Anemone

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Artwork Title: 
A Flowerplay and a Herball Anemone
Artwork Size: 
2018. h:28cms x w:23cms (framed).

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Artwork description: 
The starting point for the three Flowerplay drawings in this exhibition came from my childhood Spears toy set of Flower Play flowers which included assembly instructions, different plastic flower parts to make and re-make various flowers and the specific instructions on the lid for making the anemone flower. I referred to 'Juvenescance' in the exhibition title partly because the intensity with which I played with these flowers had the same degree of focus I use in my work as an artist. Also, I am mindful of the sea anemones' extraordinary ability to regenerate and defy the physical ageing process. In the Natural History Society of Northumbria Library I came across the most beautiful original book: William Turner's "A New Herball" published in 1551. The printed woodcut illustrations and text are strikingly lovely; but I was also captivated by Turner's explanation that the 'Anemone hath the name in Greke of wind... ' because the flowers only open when the wind blows. This gave me the notion of anemones of the air so I made a drawing from Turner's written and pictorial descriptions of the Anemone. I wanted to combine a unique hand drawing with a hand printed element, so I drew the Flower Play anemone, made a linocut, hand drew the printed text (all at 1:1 scale) and used my childhood John Bull printing set for the title.
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Artwork Date: 
2018